once upon a time
by Soccerisawesome19
Summary: once upon a time there was a charming prince. his name was severus snape. he was beautiful, but only when he was with her. without her, he was a gloomy, lonely, and soulless kid.


**Disney Character Competition: Prince Ferdinand: **a prince attracted to Snow White's voice. Write about someone's attraction to a person's one feature. Alternatively, write about Snape and Lily.

**Spell Competition: Relashio**- Spell. Releases user from binding. Write about slash. Alternatively write about Snape and Lily (Platonic or not)

**Wand Competition:** Blackthorn

**One Million Words Competition: **2,103 words

A/N: I wanted to challenge myself, so I decided to write a Snily fic – a paring I don't easily write.

once upon a time

_i. once_

once upon a time there was a charming prince. his name was severus snape. he was beautiful, but only when he was with her. without her, he was a gloomy, lonely, and soulless kid.

he lived in the hopes of seeing her. he lived in the hopes of being with her. he lived in the hopes of her.

the her of this fairy tale is a beautiful princess; long red hair, emerald green eyes, freckles sprinkled on her face, and the most beautiful laugh he has ever seen. when he's with her, he can't help but smile.

how can someone possibly be so beautiful, he wonders. he wants to teach her all the wonderful things in the world, just to see her laugh. he makes flowers bloom, and grass grow. anything at all that could possibly please her.

not only is she beautiful, but she is also smart. she learns quickly, and soon enough, she's making flowers bloom alongside him. he learns to love the beauty of magic because of her.

the only problem is her sister. her sister is a muggle - something he's learned to despise his whole entire life. but he learns to tolerate her sister, because of her.

he's long since been called freak by muggles and even wizards and witches. he has no friends he could proudly call his friend. but now, she has appeared. she accepts him as he is, and knows what he's truly like. who cares about all the other insults, he has her and that's all that matters.

enter james potter. a shining knight in armour, handsome, and very charming. he takes a liking to the princess right when he sees her, and the prince hates it. the knight is righteous, cocky, and everything severus is not.

this so called knight also takes a disliking to the prince. he and his three pages, sirius black, remus lupin, and peter pettigrew bother the prince whenever he can.

the only thoughts that go through the prince's mind are to stay calm, ignore them, and 'how can such a lowly knight and his pages bother him so?' the princess comes to his rescue, and he can't help but feel embarrassed that she had to save him from such a lowly knight and his pages.

the cycle goes on and on, with other peasants watching, and the prince getting angrier every time the princess has to save him. eventually, he spouts words that he wishes he could take back, and the princess lashes at the thin line of friendship left between them.

there are three decisions that he will regret for the rest of his life, and this is the first.

he goes and begs her for forgiveness, but there is nothing he can do. her trust of him is over.

_ii. upon_

his eyes follow her everywhere. he constantly goes and apologizes, but she usually just ignores him. the prince is beautiful no more, and now he is gloomy, lonely, and soulless.

he ponders on the subject of why he was born, if not to serve the princess. but now she refuses his help, so what can he do? what is the point of living on, if the purpose of his life has been destroyed?

the knight and his pages still bother him, but no longer does she stop and help him. she simply walks passed him, and he can't do anything but look as she walks away.

the knight keeps on courting her for attention, but she ignores him. he has caused the greatest pain in her life so far, and she can not forgive him for that.

as the years pass, the knight and his pages eventually stop bothering him.

and eventually, she stops ignoring the knight. she blushes when he's around, and replies to him almost nicely. the prince can do nothing but watch, fists clenched. it is all his fault, and he blames himself for it. even if he goes to her for forgiveness, will she give it?

she hasn't given it so far, so she will probably not give it now.

when the prince is going through his darkest time, he notices that she now holds the knight's hand. she laughs with him, and every now and then kisses him. their gazes towards each other are loving, and he realizes that she has fallen in love, and that the knight has already been in love for quite a while.

as he realizes this, he realizes that he is in love with the princess. but it's too late now. too late to receive forgiveness, and much too late to confess his love to her.

he makes the second decision that will change his life.

_iii. a_

he serves a new purpose of life now. living for the dark lord, and doing what he commands. his friends have all chosen that path, and so has he. friends? can he call them that? after the great friendship he had with the princess, he isn't sure what he can call friendship anymore.

he now bears a great scar upon his right arm, one that has the power to summon the dark lord. school is over, and he has no way of seeing the princess anymore. nevertheless, he keeps close tabs on her, making sure that she's okay.

they take the lives of the people in power. the mckinnon's are the first to go, and the only regret severus has is imagining the pain that lily will go through.

he prays that they-the knight and the princess (as much as he hates the knight, he is the protector of the princess)-will go into hiding, for they are next on the list. when he hears that they are fighting the dark lord, his heart leaps in fright. what if she gets hurt?

he rushes to the scene of action, to find that they fought the dark lord, and lived. a deed that has been done by no one before. they escaped five minutes ago.

it's unlike the prince to be following under someone else's command, but he prefers the side that will win. in this case, it's the dark lord's side.

then comes the third and last decision. he tells the dark lord the prophecy he overheard a king receive, thinking the dark lord would choose to go after the purebloods—alice and frank longbottom.

but instead, the dark lord chooses to go after the princess and the knight—the mudblood and the blood traitor.

_iv. time_

there is a traitor on the good side. only the dark lord knows who it is, for security purposes. what the dark lord doesn't know is that there is a traitor on the bad side as well. the prince has gone to the king to ask for help. he went and begged the king. the king is the only with enough power to help them.

he tried begging the dark lord, but the dark lord does not take mercy. he has chosen, and he does not change his decisions. the safe house that james and lily are staying at is revealed, and the dark lord plans to go after them.

by the time the prince gets there, it's too late. he sees the knight's bloody body across the staircase; he takes a step over it and swallows. and then he sees her. he runs over to her body and shakes her, begging her to wake up. calling her name like he wished he could have so many other times, and holding her like he always wanted to.

he clutches her as if she will give him life, and he sobs at the life he could have had with her. whether it was being her husband or just being her friend, it didn't matter. as long as he was with her, everything would have been the way he wanted it.

he sobs so loudly, and he can not hear anything. he doesn't even realize that the baby's body is nowhere to be found. then he feels anger. anger at the king for not keeping her safe. anger at the knight for not protecting her. anger at the dark lord, for killing her.

really, he just feels anger at himself, for not being able to be by her side when she needed it most.

he rushes to the king, laying the princess's body back down. he tries to say something, but in the end, he sits slumped forward in a chair. he hears that the boy lives, and he has a flicker of hope.

maybe he can redeem himself somehow, by protecting her son as he grows up. she would have wanted her son to be well protected and safe.

there's so much pain, and the prince doesn't know how to feel anymore. the king does not comfort him, nor does he want comfort. he just wants her to be back at his side, smiling and laughing like the beautiful princess he fell in love with.

in the end, he settles for being a triple agent.

_v. we_

the boy is handsome, just as handsome as his father, the knight, was. he looks exactly the same, except... except for the eyes. the eyes are the same shape, and same beautiful green colour as the princess' was.

severus finds himself growing to hate the boy-he is exactly like his father. righteous, cocky, and everything severus is not. but at the same time, there is an attachment that grows to the boy, but only because he knows what the princess once was.

he catches glimpses of her when the boy smiles and laughs. he tries his best to protect the boy without revealing anything.

years pass, and the boy grows up. he lives through many terrors, and holds together his community of family and friends with the hope of the chosen one.

the dark lord is back, and now everyone knows. one of the pages, sirius black, dies, and the boy goes through a new kind of suffering. it is not the first death, but one that wrenches at his heart and causes anger.

the prince finds out that everything he's been doing so far has been for nothing. he thought he was protecting the boy for the princess. but the king soon reveals that the purpose of the boy is to die and kill the dark lord while doing so.

the prince stays calm, but he can't stop the anger from rising. how can the king have helped a kid grow just so that he could die? as much as severus hates that, he knows that it's the only way that all the pain, suffering, and death can come to an end.

then, the prince kills the king. he does not wish to do so, but it is the king's orders, and the only way to keep the unbreakable vow he made to narcissa malfoy, a lady from the dark lands.

he is named the traitor, and everyone mourns the king. so does he, but from far back, where no one can see him.

_vi. lived_

one thing leads to another, and he is the new headmaster of hogwarts. a place fit for a prince.

the students despise him, and so do the other professors, minus the death eaters. he and the king chat-the king in his portrait. the king gives him advice on what to do.

when the boy is in danger, the prince leads him back to the right path.

then the day comes where much blood would be shed. the boy breaks into the school, and all hell breaks loose. he calls for the dark lord, and everything is progressing smoothly.

the dark lord however, has a different purpose for the prince today. today, the prince will die. how can dying possibly be worth it? for him, it is. he will finally be able to see the princess again, and that is all he wishes for.

the moment comes for when the dark lord will kill him, and the deed is done. severus feels the life draining out of him, when he sees the familiar green eyes. it's the boy. he knows what he must do, and so he does. the memories soak out, and he tells the boy to take it.

his last dying wish would be to stare into the beautiful eyes that he loved. the green eyes pierce into his own black ones, and he tries to smile, unsuccessfully.

then, the prince takes his final breath, as he thinks about his beloved princess, and all fades to black.


End file.
